


Pure, sweet, violent hearts

by EarthsickWithoutYou



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Adventure, Aliens, F/M, Mystery, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-04
Updated: 2018-01-06
Packaged: 2019-02-28 08:46:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13267878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EarthsickWithoutYou/pseuds/EarthsickWithoutYou
Summary: Picks up from the ending of "My Struggle II."  The events of this episode were real, and now Scully must deal with an impossible predicament to save herself and Mulder, and to reunite with their son.  Along the way, Mulder and Scully must save the world from the alien colonization and CSM's evil schemes, plus finally face their feelings for one another.I'm putting this on temporary hiatus so that I can get my WIP's into a manageable number to be updated in a reasonably prompt manner.





	1. The hunter and the wolves

Scully stared up, trying to get a handle on what was happening, but the light was blinding and she blinked hard, hand still latched to Mulder’s shoulder, mind still desperately seeking answers. 

On any other day, the surreal nature of the scenario would have been enough to knock her for a loop, render her temporarily incapable of reacting, lost in shock. But around the time she’d found herself running through thick, stopped traffic, heart in her throat, running straight to Mulder, Scully had accepted that anything was possible.

That meant that it was possible she could still save Mulder. That together, they could find their son. Unfortunately, Scully realized in a moment of wry humor that gave slight release to her nearly unending state of tension over the last few days, it also meant that there really was a massive alien vessel hovering overhead.

Good Lord, why were they here, what did they want? Humanity was succumbing to the Spartan virus in droves, so soon enough the planet would be theirs for the taking, but wasn’t this a little early for the aliens to be showing up? Unless they had learned of Scully’s own plan to develop a vaccine. Unless once again, she and Mulder were in the aliens’ way, and their ever-mysterious battle against those who would take over and colonize the Earth was about to come to a head.

Actually, Scully reasoned, distracted yet strengthened in her resolve by Mulder’s short, desperate breathing, his half-lidded eyes and soft, pleading mentions of her name, why not? Maybe, just maybe, after all the suffering and hell these bastards had put them through, it was about time they had it out face to face. 

_Yup,_ Scully determined, her inner voice steely, _It’s that kind of day._

As the spotlight, or tractor beam, or whatever the hell it was beamed down on the small cluster of frightened FBI agents, Scully slipped out of Mulder’s clammy grip, helping him to lean on the also-ailing Agent Miller.

She put her hands above her head and waved back and forth, her arms following a broad arc in the rudely intense light. “Hey!” Scully screamed on the top of her lungs. “You wanted us, you found us! Take us, _now!”_

Scully blinked and opened her eyes again to find that she was standing inside the alien ship, Mulder and Miller huddled pathetically on the floor beside her, again hardening her rage at the situation. 

As she might have expected, the room was dim and smoky, some kind of liquid dripping creepily from the pipes and reptilian muttering coming from a short distance away. Short, thin, green aliens — she wouldn’t say “little green men,” since gender or even its mere existence was indeterminable from this glimpse at their outer anatomy — walked out of the shadows. Their heads were huge-looking on their little spindly bodies, and their eyes seemed biggest of all: enormous, glossy, and empty, to the point of actually reflecting Scully’s own face back at her when they got close enough.

When one of the four creatures spoke, the voice emanated not from the throat or lips, but rather from all around them. It had to be an automated translator with speakers built into the walls of the ship. Like everything else they did, Scully mused, it was freaky and disturbing as hell. She had to give them credit for being consistent, anyway.

Her continued attempts to infuse humor into her thoughts to take the edge off the horror was vaguely successful at best.

“Dana Scully,” the alien greeted her, the voice chilly and hollow. Some kind of viscous substance was slicked all over the aliens’ smooth, green skin, adding to her repulsion. “You were correct in assuming that we would want to bring you here. You must not be allowed to continue in your work against our cause.”

Scully laughed sharply, staring the alien down. “Your cause?” She strolled closer and then crouched down to eye level with the creature. “My planet.”

“This planet has not belonged to the human race for many generations,” the alien leader corrected her.

“It was never yours to take,” Scully retorted immediately, “And nor was it the right of C.G. Spender and his Syndicate to make any such deal with you.”

“The time for that discussion has long-since passed, Dana Scully. We are, however, prepared to offer you a deal of your own. Cease your work on a vaccine for the Spartan virus. We will provide a cure to Fox Mulder and Kyd Miller.” Finally, the creature’s words got an iron grip on Scully’s attention and interest.

 _Mulder._ She glanced down at his sweaty form, the crusted blood and bruises on his face, the sight a merciless blade through her heart. Scully had to get him out of here, to safety. And, especially after all he’d risked to help, Miller, too.

“We will also bring you directly to your son, William. Finally, you will all be together. You may do what you like with your freedom and your survival, so long as you do not stand in our way again.” The alien’s hands were now clasped behind his or her back, giving it a strangely polite, almost human posture that was far too uncanny to be cordial in appearance.

“No,” Mulder groaned, half-rising from some awful trance, the sickness wearing his body and mind down more and more with each passing moment. “Scully, no, you can’t. The world needs that vaccine.”

Scully knelt by Mulder’s side and lifted his hand, kissing his knuckles and whispering, “I know that, Mulder. I have an idea, and I need you to trust me. Let me take control. Rest. Please?”

Mulder nodded, sinking back into his sleepy daze as Scully returned to their alien hosts. “Fine,” she agreed, “Take us to our son now. Cure Mulder and Miller on the way. We’ll stay out of your business from now on.”

“If you do not,” the alien hissed, all pretense of politeness fading like the facade it was, “You will be dead before you even know how or why.”

Scully fought the urge to roll her eyes. “I’m sure,” she replied simply.

The aliens gathered Mulder and Miller, long-fingered green hands holding the men under their shoulders and by the ankles, and conveyed them to a med bay where the cure could be administered. Scully followed as the wheels in her head continued working on the overall problem.

Soon, she’d have friends and allies to help her figure this out, but she had to get a jump on this situation with plenty of forethought. 

Somehow, some way, once Mulder was safe and they were reunited with William, they were going to have to stop this colonization. The aliens would be watching them to make sure Scully made no further attempt to save humanity, so their rebellion would have to be exceptionally well-crafted and completely hidden until the moment of truth arrived.

After all, even if it was ahead of them now, in the future somewhere, Scully still knew that the truth was out there.


	2. Systematic magic

Mulder took a deep breath instinctively and let it out as his eyes opened slowly. He was lying in bed, the room dark and unfamiliar. Scully’s face appeared over him, gentle and concerned. His fingers reached out to caress her cheek and she leaned into his touch.

“This is the best dream I’ve had in ages,” Mulder murmured, nestling into the sheets with a contented sigh. “I don’t care if I never wake up.”

“Mulder,” Scully laughed softly, “You’re not dreaming. The aliens dropped us off the same way that they took us, within a blink. They didn’t give us William’s exact location. Still, since they chose to leave us in a small New Mexico town, I’m fairly certain our son must be close. We’re in a motel for now. Agent Miller is resting as well; he called Agent Einstein to fill her in on everything. In order to maintain our cover of going along with the aliens’ deal, we’ll have to send Miller back to D.C. soon. We can’t let anyone figure out what we’ve got our allies working on.”

“Scully,” Mulder groaned, half-sitting up, “Scully, Scully, Scully, please stop talking for a second. There’s a vein still pulsating in my forehead from being strapped down to a medical cot in an alien vessel, even if it _was_ for my own good.”

“Sorry,” Scully sighed, making no objection when he laid his head on her shoulder. In fact, she slipped her arms around him snugly. After all, who were they really kidding? In the face of everything they were going through, pretending she didn’t want to be close to him physically seemed like a foolish waste of time and energy. “I’m babbling. I’m full of nervous energy, Mulder, I mean on the one hand, we’ve never been in so much trouble, so much imminent danger.”

“Right, we literally have to save the world,” Mulder agreed, his lips warm against her shoulder. “I kind of hate it when that happens.”

“And yet on the other hand, we’ve also never been so close to seeing William again. I honestly don’t know what to do with myself.”

“I didn’t get that impression,” he replied drily, and she chuckled.

“I’m keeping myself on task, but I’m — God, Mulder, I have this weird mixture of anxiety and excitement, and it’s like…my brain is on fire.” He pulled back to look at her face and saw her eyes wide and shining, her cheeks flushed. Mulder took this moment, sank into it as their own and pushed outside concerns away just for the time being.

“You’ve never looked more beautiful, Scully,” he said sincerely, his voice so earnest that Scully had to look away because the tone made her feel all of a sudden naked. She looked back as a tear slid down her cheek and he brushed it away. 

“You need to keep resting,” she urged, changing the subject. “Lie down.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he joked, obedience all too easy given how thoroughly worn out his body still felt. “But Scully?”

She raised an eyebrow in curiosity. “Yes, Mulder?”

“Please don’t leave.”

Scully pulled back the sheets and climbed in beside him, remembering how delicious it felt to wrap her arms around him and just cuddle in closely, how the sensation made her able to breathe again in a way that nothing else could. Silently, they both lay there, questions swirling as they always seemed to, but comfort finally taken in each other’s affection.

*************************************************************************

When morning arrived, Scully sat up in bed, squinting around until her eyes landed on Mulder, who was busy encircling tacks with red yarn on a bulletin board across the room. Pictures of all the major players in the alien conspiracy were laid out, connected gradually as Mulder theorized how one domino had knocked into the other until a global epidemic had been all too easily achieved.

“Jeez, Mulder, I fall asleep for a few hours,” Scully murmured, getting out of bed and coming to stand beside him. “Where’d you even get this stuff?”

“Oh, I walked over to the main office and raided it. Fortunately, we’re close enough to Area 51 that the owner was a conspiracy nut and had plenty of cork board and red thread. He also had a laptop and color printer. _Un_ fortunately, this place has been abandoned, which means everyone else here was struck down by the virus.” Mulder sighed, rubbing his forehead. “Scully, we’ve got to move on this fast. I’ve been thinking this through over and over, and the Smoking Man’s plot is airtight. Reaching back so many years, every piece in place for long enough to make sure it’ll be damn near impossible to stop him now.” He passed her a mug of coffee and took a sip from his own. “Did you figure out how to create a vaccine or antidote before you found me on the road?”

She nodded, “The only humans who are immune have alien DNA in them, and the only way to cure those who have the virus is to inject them with a strong dose of the same. But Mulder…” Scully paced a bit in her rumpled blouse and pants from the day before. “By the time I got to you, you were so far gone, I was sure only William’s stem cells could save you.”

Mulder sat down on the edge of the bed, frowning. “If that’s true, then how am I here, feeling perfectly normal?”

“My best guess is that the aliens on that ship were already in possession of William’s stem cells. Putting aside how infuriated that makes me, what is it about our son that makes him so important, such a big piece of this whole puzzle?”

“When I turned my phone back on, I had a text from Chris Spender. Apparently, he was attacked by people who demanded to know William’s location, which he still refuses to disclose. It can’t be long now before the Smoking Man comes for William,” Mulder guessed, cold, angry hatred lacing his tone. “We need to get there first, without getting caught.”

Scully nodded. “I think our only real option is the most imposing one, the one that seems almost impossible: to take the aliens themselves out of play, as well as the Smoking Man and his co-conspirators. Then there’s no army to stop us from getting the cure to every hospital that needs it.”

“So, William is the key, but we don’t know why,” he replied, perplexed. “You’re his mother, you share alien DNA, what are we not seeing here? When we find him, we can learn more. Luckily, in a town this small, it shouldn’t be hard. I already pulled up a census and I have some good places to start looking once you get showered and ready.”

“Yes, that reminds me to ask you, Mulder…” Despite everything, a smile played at Scully’s lips. “What exactly are you wearing?”

Mulder glanced down at his black t-shirt, emblazoned in neon green letters with the phrase, “I was abducted." The back of the shirt read “Area 51, Roswell, New Mexico.” It was a size too small at least and clung to his arm muscles in a way that made Scully pretty happy with the fit. 

“Don’t ask me how I squeezed into these jeans,” he replied, so naturally her eyes flickered downward before she forced them back to his amused eyes, clearing her throat. “I had to raid the motel owner’s wardrobe. What do you think of the shirt? Is this meta or what?”

“I’m pretty sure that’s just bluntly true information,” Scully clarified. He tossed her some clothing, a grey matching sweatsuit with a pink t-shirt, cutesy cartoon image of a dog right in the center.

“I’m guessing from the pictures he had around that the second bedroom belongs to his college-aged daughter. Still, these are about your size.” 

“ _Still?_ ” Scully retorted. “Watch it, Mulder.” She heard him laughing quietly as he turned back to the conspiracy board and she headed to the bathroom.

She turned the water on and undressed quickly, not wanting to waste any time before setting off on their investigation. Was it somehow inappropriate that she felt this strange buzz, that she felt so incredibly alive when so many innocents were in mortal peril, the universe seeming to rest on her shoulders and Mulder’s yet again? Being here with Mulder, knowing that he was going to be okay, was a huge part of her secret, somewhat forbidden bliss, Scully pondered as she pulled the curtain shut behind her and stepped under the hot, soothing water. 

Maybe when all of this madness subsided, they could talk about their insanely complicated relationship. Scully would be happy to _un_ complicate it and simply leave it that way forever.

She just wanted to be with Mulder. The realization that had always lingered under the surface had broken through layers of confusion, of denial, and asserted itself more confidently. Scully wasn’t afraid of her own feelings anymore, or the risks that came with exploring the romantic side of their relationship. 

The shampoo smelled of lilac, Scully mused absently, raking her fingers through her hair to help rinse the soap out. Within the next heartbeat, she locked her fingertips to her forehead in alarm as a surge of electricity seemed to hit her brain. The sensation was heavy and intrusive, bombarding Scully with daggers of pain and flashes of white light until she had to grab the shower wall for support.

“Mulder,” She said weakly, sinking to her knees. She’d meant to call loudly for him, but she couldn’t summon the strength. The flashes were interspersed now with images, sound and light, her view of the steamy shower caught haltingly between breaks in the visions, the disorientation growing more intense. What the hell was happening to her?

She hadn’t spoken loudly enough to be audible to Mulder over the sound of the water and the muffling presence of the door between them. _why is there always a door between us, or a wall? Always something keeping us apart_ , Scully wondered listlessly. Then she realized that in her bizarre and startling state of mind, the onslaught of pain and light and sound, thinking of a door made one appear in her mind’s eye. What would happen if she went through it?

“Scully?” Mulder called when he noticed that she was taking too long in the shower. She didn’t reply, so he entered the bathroom and went running to the shower, where Scully was lying in a delirious state, her eyes rolled up, chin lifted as if some invisible force was pulling her upward. “Come on, Scully, wake up,” he insisted softly, panicking as he shut the water off and grabbed a towel. He wrapped it around her and then lifted her in his arms, carrying her to the bed and lying her down, propping her head against a pillow. 

His hands shook with fear as he tried to decide what to do. There were no hospitals that were safe to take her to right now. She looked like she was having a seizure, for God’s sake — why was this happening? Mulder touched her forehead and found that it was feverish. “Your brain is on fire,” he mumbled, recalling what she’d said the night before. Strangely prophetic words, or were her mood and feelings a mere symptom of what was happening to her now? If the aliens had done something to Scully while they’d been aboard the ship, he would rip them all to shreds, but how could that have been possible?

Agent Miller knocked on the door and was startled when Mulder yanked it open, raw desperation etched across his face. “I don’t know what’s wrong,” Mulder blurted as he let Miller into the room. “Or how to help her.”

Needing to help somehow, he lifted the covers and made her body warm, since her skin felt like ice with the exception of her head. 

“I’d say our best hope would be to sedate her, but we don’t have access to the drugs…” Miller’s voice trailed off as his finger shot into the air. “Actually, we do! There’s an abandoned ambulance right down the road from here. I’ll go check and see if they have anything we can use.”

He came back with a bag of supplies, but by then Scully was sitting up again. “I’m fine,” she kept repeating as Mulder shook his head almost sternly.

“How can you be fine, Scully? You were in terrible pain, you were shaking, I couldn’t get through to you—” 

She shook her head calmly and reached for Mulder’s hand.

“Mulder, you always get through to me,” she assured him. The look that passed between them was so charged that it caused Miller to take a step back out of the purest instinct not to intrude.

“I think I have some idea what’s happening to me, but why is still a mystery,” Scully elaborated, touching her forehead. 

She closed her eyes to try and remember all she’d been able to understand from the visions that had taken her over. From frenetic shards of ideas, she’d passed through the door to a longer scene, to a teenaged boy working at a diner here in town. He wore a cheesy, nostalgic uniform right out of the 1950’s and the manager was breathing down his neck about not spilling the coffee or giving any patrons the wrong orders. The boy couldn’t have cared less about the boss’s hassling, that was clear; he didn’t care about the job either; his mind was occupied with far loftier matters.

“Mulder, when I had that episode, I _saw_ things. I think…I saw our son.” Scully remembered the feeling she’d had when the young man had raised his eyes from a customer’s coffee cup, how his crystal gaze had appeared to look directly at her. “And I think he saw me, too. I know where he is.” 

Mulder stared at her, entirely confounded, and she knew his next words all too well, especially since they were usually hers. So when his lips parted to speak again, she just said, “No, I don’t know how it’s possible, but I think I’m coming into some kind of…ability, whether temporary or otherwise. I know without a doubt that what I saw was real, and it was what we needed to know, exactly.”

“Agent Scully, even if that’s true, the seizure took quite a toll on you physically,” Agent Miller put in quietly. “It’s important that we find out why this is happening to you so that we can make sure you’re properly cared for. Another episode could be worse than this one.”

“Right, but the only way to find out what’s happening to me is to go to William. What we need to do to stop the aliens, to stop the Smoking Man, is to get to my son. So I understand what you’re saying, Agent Miller, but the reality is that the only way to save me, the only way to save us all, is for us to get to that diner and talk to William. And so, if you wouldn’t mind?” She nodded down at herself, reminding them that she was wearing just a towel under the sheets and blankets.

“Sorry,” they said almost comically in unison, turning around. “I’ll get you those clothes,” Mulder added, placing them next to Scully as he and Miller stepped outside. When they returned, Scully was testing out her ability to stand, leaning on the bed.

“I think I’m okay to travel, not that we have a choice.” 

Mulder shook his head again, showing a disapproval of her risky behavior that mirrored the way she usually acted around him. Still, he put an arm around her and helped her to a car that had been left with the keys in the ignition there in the parking lot. Living in a ghost world had its conveniences.

“Do you want me to stay, go with you?” Miller asked, leaning over the car as they fastened their seatbelts.

“It’s better that you go back to D.C. and notify your partner of what we’re up to. There are very few people we can trust, but we’ll be in touch soon with a short list of others you can reach out to for help as we get our plan in place.” Scully reached across Mulder to shake Miller’s hand before he left.

“Did you say something about a diner?” Mulder asked, and Scully’s eyes glazed over with tears. Happy tears. She nodded.

“Oh, Mulder!” Scully gushed softly, “Wait until you see him, William. He’s adorable!”


	3. I missed you every single day

Mulder sat across from Scully in the diner booth and examined her, those little crinkles of concern still present near his eyes. She sighed, tucking a strand of red hair behind one ear.

“Is this what I’m like?” She asked, making a sour face. “When you’re being weird, is that the face _I_ make?”

“Well, I’m weird pretty much all the time, so…” Mulder shrugged.

“So, yeah,” they said in unison and then chuckled. 

“You’re not being weird, exactly,” he clarified, “You’re still you, but this is like…a you without all of the stress and sadness. There’s a lightness about you, Scully, and I think what I wish most of all is that _that_ wasn’t a cause for concern. I wish you never had to have that burden on you all the time, that it didn’t take some alien brain hack and a vision seizure to get you to relax and see the bright side of things.”

“Don’t say it,” Scully warned, leaning back against the soft, shiny, electric-blue cushion of the booth. “Don’t say you wish we’d never met, because you can never forgive yourself for causing that dark cloud to hover over me all the time, since your problems have become mine.”

“How can I not say it?” Mulder mumbled, picking up a laminated list of milkshake specials and putting it back down again. 

“Because if your troubles have become mine as well, then I’d have it no other way. I could never let you bear it alone, Mulder. I think that we were always meant to find each other, and who are we to question fate or destiny? It’s what’s led us here today. Now please stop worrying twice as much just because my worry switch is out of commission. Believe me, I’m well aware of the stakes and just how perilous a game we’ve embarked on. Remember, whatever happens, that I would have it no other way.” Scully smiled, tired but optimistic.

Mulder took her hand in the middle of the table and stroked her fingers, relenting to her soothing words, his face softening as his tense muscles relaxed.

Just then, a boy of about sixteen years old slid casually into the booth beside Scully and said bluntly, “Hey, guys.”

Scully took one look at his emerald eyes and mop of sandy hair before tearing up again. “William?” He nodded and gave her a hug. 

“Wait, you know who we are?” Mulder asked cautiously, afraid to believe, still doing Scully’s usual job out of protectiveness towards her.

William grinned at him over Scully’s shoulder. “Of course, you two are my biological parents. I’ve always known who you are, I could always sense you. I’ve had tons of visions about you, and I seem to have an unusually far-back-reaching collection of childhood memories. I remember when I was a baby and everything. But you were both always too far away for me to figure out exactly where you were or for me to contact you using my abilities.”

Scully forced herself to pull back slightly because she wanted to look into his face again. It was a kind face, and highly intelligent. He had Mulder’s look of intense analytical skill and her own blend of common sense and empathy, she assessed immediately. “William, I had this…sort of episode earlier today, like a seizure. I had visions that showed me how to find you.”

He nodded, the silly little white hat that went with his waiter’s uniform bobbing precariously until he snatched it off and set it on the table. “This stupid thing,” he sighed in annoyance. “Yes, Mom, I know about your visions. I felt them, I, uh, caused them. I guess you finally got close enough to me that I could reach out to you. I’m sorry if it hurt, though. I was just so excited to be able to see you, I didn’t stop to think that you’d never had the visions before and it might hit you kind of hard.”

“That’s okay,” Scully said dismissively. “William, tell me, how have your adoptive parents been treating you? How is your life?”

“Oh, they’re great, really,” William smiled warmly. Mulder was still watching his son as if he was a witness who needed to be fully vetted before being trusted. “They’ve been super understanding of me, especially considering that I’m a total nerd and I’m distracted most of the time. When you’ve got physic abilities, it’s kind of a job trying to hide it. So this job here, I really didn’t need. No wonder I’m such a sucky waiter. My other parents thought I needed to show some responsibility, so I was like ‘okay, fine..’” He put his hands up in surrender. “Also, luckily for me as far as school goes, being a geek is fairly ‘in’ right now.” He added air-quotes and Scully laughed while Mulder continued staring William down, trying to decide if the kid was a con man or the genuine article.

“You seem surprisingly cool with all of this,” Mulder noted suspiciously. “Calling Scully ‘Mom’ when you haven’t seen her in years, talking about a pretty complicated life for a kid as if it’s no problem.”

“Dad, I knew you’d be like this,” William replied easily, “That’s okay. I’m peculiar, as my boss would say. You’ll get used to me. Remember, I’ve had my whole life to get used to all my quirks, _and_ the weird sort of trajectory we’re all on. I know who’s after us now, and that we’ve got to put our heads together to, you know, save the world and stuff. I’m ready to get down to business. You can work on trusting me as we go along, okay?”

Mulder threw his hands up, looking a bit like William had doing a similar gesture shortly before, as if he had no objection and yet couldn’t quite believe that this wasn’t too good to be true. 

“I think we’d better get a good meal in you guys first, especially you, Mom. You’ll be okay, but you need to take it easy and go heavy on the self care.” He looked over his shoulder and called, “Hey, Mark!”

A grumpy-looking fellow in his forties came over, looking even more absurd in his retro uniform than William, since his miserable mood completely negated the cheery, bright-lit environment with oldies playing on the jukebox. Mark, clearly the manager, scowled accusingly at William.

“Hey, man, can I get a couple of burgers, some fries and shakes for these guys? They’re starving. Matter of fact, so am I — can we add a couple of those grilled hot dogs, too?” William smiled innocently as Mark glowered.

“Oh, sure, kid,” Mark said sarcastically, “Anything else _I_ , your boss, can get for _you,_ my employee who is currently slacking off while not on break? Are you insane? I mean, do you want to get fired?”

“Honestly, I kind of do, but mainly, I’m just hungry and eager to make sure that my companions here are well-fed. We’ve got miles to go before we sleep, in the grander sense of the allusion, you know? We’re paying customers, don’t worry. I cashed my minuscule paycheck the other day, and it will definitely cover this.” William batted his long eyelashes and Mulder laughed involuntarily.

“Ugh, fine, fine,” Mark replied, “But you _are_ fired.” He glanced at Mulder and Scully before adding, “Peculiar, I tell you. This kid is damn peculiar.” Then Mark looked again at what Mulder and Scully were wearing and shrugged, as if to say they were obviously strange themselves, so they couldn’t possibly fathom his frustration.

The moment felt so familial that Mulder and Scully exchanged a special look. They’d never had this before. 

“Anyway,” William said once their food arrived, “Eat, Mom, Eat, Dad, you can’t prevent an alien colonization of the Earth on an empty stomach, one of you recovering from a recent brush with death, and the other one reeling from an introduction to psychic visions. Let’s be real.”

“So,” he resumed, dipping a fry in his strawberry milkshake, “Granddad Psychopath is on my tail, big time. Your brother Chris — my uncle — did a really good job of hiding me in plain sight, moved me around a ton over the years, made it clear to my adoptive parents that it was necessary; he’s a solid dude. But even he couldn’t hide me forever. I think it’s best we hightail it out of these parts A-SAP. Since you went and made a deal with the aliens, we’ve got to be extra low-key about getting that cure of Mom’s out into the world. Any ideas on who we can trust to help? Or, you know, how we can sorta get a hit out on my chainsmoking grand-killer and render the aliens incapable of hurting us, or even like, scare them away, somehow? Cause outside of asking you guys what we should do, I got nothing. I’ve been thinking about this for ages, the more clues I could gather over time, and it’s a huge mess, as I’m sure you know.” He took a big bite of his hot dog and his parents regarded him with wide eyes.

“I was wondering if you ever stopped talking to breathe,” Mulder said wryly, “But I guess you only stop to eat. Yeah, that’s the gist of it. Scully, did you notice any potential weaknesses the aliens might have when we were up there on their ship?”

“One thing,” Scully replied, sipping her shake and lifting her burger, “They had this thick substance all over their skin, viscous and transparent, almost like a salve or ointment of some kind.”

“Could they be sick?” Mulder wondered, “Are there resources here that they need for their own survival, and is that why the timeline suddenly got so frantically enforced?”

“Good theory,” William reasoned, “It’s extra as hell, right, them suddenly like showing up and not staying in the shadows anymore. How long have these dudes been threatening to conquer us now? And it never actually happens. If nothing else, they’re subtle, they are quiet, and they work underground, trying to colonize us from within before we knew what was happening. All of this ‘deadly virus wiping out humanity’ stuff, apart from being right up Old Smokey’s street, since he’s into that whole pretentious, ‘reset everything, start from scratch, humanity has made too much of a mess and only the strong deserve to survive’ bit, well—”

“It’s never been the aliens’ style to hit us fast and hard and out in the open,” Mulder finished. By now, he and Scully were getting used to William’s rapid-fire style of talking, his savant-seeming intellect enhanced by his paranormal abilities.

“It is true that they’ve seemed content for many years to take a more insidious approach. They were confident that with time, they would be here in so many numbers, between hybrids and all their other hidden projects, that they could simply erode humanity from within,” Scully mused.

“If we had a sample of that goo, we’d be a step closer to possibly ending the alien threat,” William observed. 

“I did get a sample,” Scully smiled pridefully. “When they got close enough, I swiped a little and slipped it into a small plastic bag I had in my pocket. It was right before they sent us back.”

“You’re such a scientist, Mom, I love it,” William beamed. “Brilliant!”

“We can take it to Agent Einstein and the two of you could get to work analyzing the sample while William and I work on defeating the Smoking Man,” Mulder suggested. “At least I know that if you’re shut up in a lab with someone to keep an eye on you, you’ll be as safe as possible.”

“Awww,” William enthused, “Way to have Mom’s back, Dad. That plan rocks, but who else can we bring in on this operation? Don’t get me wrong, we’re obviously the three amigos, the main attraction, but we’ll never get this done with just Agents Pretty and Prettier on our side. Agent Einstein is gorgeous, by the way, but I bet you never noticed, the way you look at Mom, huh, Dad?”

“Cut it out,” Mulder groused good-naturedly. 

“What’s the deal, I always wanted to ask. I can literally never tell from my visions over time if you two are together or not, like did you ever get married, are you broken up now or not, what the what?” William finished his first hot dog and went on to the next, watching his parents like they were an episode of a cherished soap opera.

“Do _we_ even know?” Scully joked drily. In her heart, of course, she knew that she and Mulder were both fully aware of their feelings, how they’d never gone away, never subsided, only grown deeper and stronger. Again, she’d have it no other way. In the odd after-buzz of her visions, it seemed so blindingly obvious all of a sudden.

“Well, we never got married,” Mulder clarified, drawing patterns in his ketchup with a fry, avoiding Scully’s intrigued gaze. She wondered how he would explain them. “Uh, but we thought about it.” He got up the nerve to glance at Scully and they exchanged small, almost bashful smiles. “Life just kept getting in the way, I guess.”

There was no point elaborating on how Mulder’s obsessive wild goose chases and Scully’s longing for some peace in their lives had caused their break-up. It didn’t seem to matter anymore, the small details, the problems that they’d already worked through by now, simply by becoming partners again. Simply by Scully discovering that it was what she wanted, too. They both loved the thrill of working the X-Files cases; they just longed for a time when that thrill came without the impending apocalypse and having to look over their shoulders constantly.

William stood up, depositing some crumpled bills on the table and nodding out the window. “Those our wheels? Let’s get going, it’s a long ride. Once I knew you guys were coming for me, I told my parents I was going to be away for a few days on a school Mathletes trip.”

“Hey, you’re not in charge,” Mulder said, putting a warning hand on his son’s shoulder. “We’re the adults, you’re still just a kid. Do as we say, alright? We need to keep you safe, too.”

William laughed and hugged his father, and Scully loved the way Mulder just gave up and grinned as he returned the embrace. “You’re gonna have a hard time learning to be all authoritative and Dad-ish in a convincing way, but don’t worry. I won’t point it out too often.”

“Don’t be a brat,” Mulder complained, adding to Scully, “He gets that ego from you.”

“Oh, _please_! He’s you all over again when he gets that know-it-all expression,” Scully corrected him. She stood up, grateful to find that her land legs felt more solid and reliable now. “Come on, boys, let’s go.”

*********************************************************************************

“I think we can trust Monica Reyes,” Scully theorized as they drove off on their journey. “As close as she is to the Smoking Man, she could help us topple him.”

“You’re kidding me!” Mulder objected, “After what she pulled?”

“Mulder, you don’t seriously believe that the Monica we know would throw the rest of humanity under the bus just to save herself. I think she’s working undercover, trying to destroy the Smoking Man’s operation from within,” Scully suggested.

“True that,” William agreed, “I had a vision of that conversation you had with Reyes on the bench that day. She looked like she fantasized about putting a bullet in her boss on the regular. Hey, what about looping in that other guy that used to work with you and Reyes, the grumpy cat that was always looking at her with emoji heart eyes?”

“John Doggett,” Scully replied, unable to help a small laugh at William’s description. “We haven’t seen him in years, but there are few men more trustworthy. We should find out where he is and see if he can come and help us. And Mulder, what about Skinner?”

“Well, obviously, we can’t do anything without Skinner, when do we ever do anything without Skinner?” Mulder asked wryly. 

“Alright, this team is shaping up,” William declared, then he leaned back and shut his eyes, yawning. “I’m gonna catch some z’s. See you guys on the flipside.”

Mulder and Scully looked at each other in amusement, the warm feeling of togetherness between the three of them making the job ahead seem much less daunting, even as Scully’s brain began to return to its normal level of skepticism and foreboding. “He’s your son,” Mulder joked as Scully flipped through the radio.

She took out one of the folders of clues that Mulder had printed out the night before when he should have been resting and began poring over the details. His investigative board was also crammed into the trunk, the only belongings they’d retained on this crazy trip, aside from their phones. “He’s your son, too,” Scully smiled as she began to reread the intel they’d gathered. 

Mulder smiled back and faced the road confidently. “I know.”


End file.
